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Film: 13th

This 2016 American documentary by director Ava DuVernay takes an in-depth look at the prison system, exploring the intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States. The films is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery (unless as punishment for a crime).

Charting the explosive growth in America's prison population, with over 2 million people incarated (up from 200,000 in 1970), 13th looks at the history of injustice in America. As President Obama states at the film's opening. The U.S. has a full 25% of the world's prisoners despite having only five percent of the world's population. 13th features several prominent activists, academics, politicians from "both sides of the aisle," and public figures, such as Angela Davis, Bryan Stevenson, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich, Cory Booker, Henry Louis Gates Jr. It has garnered acclaim from film critics, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Oscars.

Free and open to the public, this event is sponsored by the Davis Center and Williams Reads, which aims to foster new connections among students, staff, faculty, and community members by exploring diversity through a common reading experience. This year's common read is Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson.